Maple Hill rock mine meeting set

The Onslow County Adjustment Board is set to decide tonight whether a second proposal by Martin Marietta Materials to dig a rock mine in Maple Hill will pan out.

LINDELL KAY - Daily News Staff

The Onslow County Adjustment Board is set to decide tonight, Feb. 12 whether a second proposal by Martin Marietta Materials to dig a rock mine in Maple Hill will pan out.

The board voted in December 2010 to reject a special-use permit request by the mining company to build a 1,800-acre quarry off N.C. 50 with an entrance near Haws Run Road.

A mining company representative said the new proposal answers concerns raised by residents who objected to the company’s first attempt in 2010.

The board will determine whether the request for a special-use permit is different than the original request, Onslow Counter Planning Director Ben Warren said.

“If the board finds the request is different, then it will continue the matter until Feb. 25 when it will hold a public hearing,” Warren said. “If the board finds it to be the same, then the request ends there.”

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Onslow County Health Department on College Street in downtown Jacksonville.

In 2010, the Adjustment Board determined that Martin Marietta failed to prove the proposed mine would be in harmony with the surrounding area and wouldn’t damage property values.

Martin Marietta spokesman Paxton Badham said his company submitted 23 conditions they are willing to follow in order to alleviate concerns.

Residents said the proposal is basically the same.

The new request calls for roughly the same acreage: 1,800 acres the first time and 1,831 the second time around; the same amount of discharge: 9 to 12 million gallons of water a day; and the same location: off N.C. 50 near Haws Run Road.

“They just want to get this passed and don’t care about the people who live out here,” said Robbie Yopp, who lives in the neighborhood. One of the community’s biggest concerns is nearby hog farms.

Martin Marietta increased the buffer range of the proposed quarry from 60 to 125 feet.

The mine would be a danger to indigenous plants and animals including the Venus Fly Trap and Red-cockaded Woodpecker, according to the White Oak-New Riverkeeper Alliance.

The area is the location of one of the largest underground water supplies in the region and where many people get their drinking water.

Contact Daily News Senior Reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8455 or lindell.kay@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter and friend him on Facebook @ 1lindell.